venatrix

Forms

vēnātrīx f (genitive vēnātrīcis, masculine vēnātor); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vēnor (“to hunt”) + -trīx, the feminine counterpart of vēnātor (“hunter”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan takes vēnor as probably a denominative verb from Proto-Italic *wēn-o/ā- (“hunting”), and connects it with Proto-Indo-European *(H)uēnh₁- (“desire”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil,^[5] in the first book of the Aeneid;^[6][7][8] a medieval mythographer quoted by the DMLBS recalls that Virgil there has Venus meet Aeneas in the dress of a huntress maiden.^[9]

Semantic evolution

Ovid uses it attributively of Diana, the huntress goddess (venatrix dea),^[6][7] and Juvenal of her as the huntress girl.^[6][7] Martial and Valerius Flaccus apply it to hunting dogs.^[6][8]

Christian writers used it figuratively: Ambrose speaks of a huntress “not of wild beasts, but of lusts”,^[6][7] and Cassiodorus has it in the sense “one who strives for something”.^[7] In British Medieval Latin it is found in Aldhelm's riddle on the cat,^[9] and in the Liber Monstrorum of women who rear tigers and leopards in place of hunting dogs.^[9]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Aeneid.^[6][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of Diana.^[6][5]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of a hunting dog.^[6][5]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it figuratively of a pursuer of lusts.^[6][5]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it in a riddle on the cat.^[9][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A huntress.^[2][6]
2. (attributive) Hunting: of the goddess Diana; of a hunting dog.^[6][7][10]
3. (figurative) One who pursues or strives for something.^[7][6]

Related words

• vēnātor

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.